The Atlantic‘s David Graham tracks the rising star within conservative circles of Dr. Ben Carson, head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He gained national recognition with his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 7, in which he touched on “political correctness,” the education system, the national debt, and pushed for a “very different health-care plan” than the one President Obama favors. Graham observes, “Though many commentaries have tried tiptoe around it, it’s impossible to pretend there’s no racial dimension involved in a successful black conservative castigating the liberal black president.”